On my 9 tip up, the handle does not work with my panel set up. I have been wondering what to do. To remove the canopy now, I have an access panel in the foreskin that allows me to reach in to open. I have considered a cable or chain to the panel in case of emergency, but I can't think of a time it would be easier to open from the front rather than the back. I will never have a chute on so I can't imaging needing it in flight.

I plan to have the emergency canopy release installed for several reasons:

1) It provides another option in a ditching scenario, and it may help to release both the standard latch and the emergency release to facilitate exiting an inverted, sinking aircraft. One example is if you come to a stop in relatively shallow water near the shore, you have a bit more flexibility in how you push the canopy away from the cockpit far enough to get out.

2) The standard canopy latch and actuation mechanism could be jammed or broken in an accident where there's structural deformation (even if you're upright and on solid ground), and the emergency canopy release handle provides an independent and dissimilar means of escape.

3) I may someday decide to buy a chute and do more acro and/or formation work, so the option to jettison the canopy and bail out will be there if I ever need it...or if the next owner needs it. It might be hard to add back in later if you've filled up the center of the panel with avionics.

4) In any of the above scenarios, the passenger may find it easier and more intuitive to pull the emergency release handle than reach across and use the normal latch if the pilot is incapacitated after an accident. I recall my RV-14 demo ride with Vans at Oshkosh a few years ago...I was not given any briefing about how to unlatch the canopy, and as we were flying out fairly low over Lake Winnebago I eyed the emergency release handle and made mental note that I was going to yank it as soon as the loud noises stopped if we had to make a forced landing.

On that note, I've seen several finished RV panels including the Vans demonstrators that do not have a placard clearly describing how the jettison handle works. Do you pull it? Twist it? Don't assume someone will know how it works in an emergency. Mine will have a placard that says something like 'Pull to Jettison Canopy, Emergency Use Only'.

has anyone ever been able to answer the question of whether or not the canopy is expected to possibly strike the occupants during any jettison during flight at any speed? If the aircraft is out of control (spin, damaged, etc) during flight and the choice is made to escape mid-flight, is the canopy designed to allow for egress midflight or only once on the ground? I have attempted to research this and have come up with nothing valuable.

has anyone ever been able to answer the question of whether or not the canopy is expected to possibly strike the occupants during any jettison during flight at any speed? If the aircraft is out of control (spin, damaged, etc) during flight and the choice is made to escape mid-flight, is the canopy designed to allow for egress midflight or only once on the ground? I have attempted to research this and have come up with nothing valuable.

has anyone ever been able to answer the question of whether or not the canopy is expected to possibly strike the occupants during any jettison during flight at any speed? If the aircraft is out of control (spin, damaged, etc) during flight and the choice is made to escape mid-flight, is the canopy designed to allow for egress midflight or only once on the ground? I have attempted to research this and have come up with nothing valuable.

This post may be of interest. Not specific to the RV-14, but an actual canopy jettison incident where the pilot (Sean Tucker) had time to plan his leaving the airplane.

One thing that occurred to me recently is that most builders are putting at least one GPS antenna on the glare shield of the RV-14, and then there's other wiring such as the canopy latched switch and LED cockpit lighting that requires a coax/wire bundle going up into the forward part of the canopy. For those of you who have installed the quick release per the plans, have you considered how the wire bundle might restrict the ability to completely jettison the canopy? At high speed in flight the air loads might be enough to sever the coax/wire, but it's hard to predict what might happen. On the ground or in water, it may prevent opening the front part of the canopy as designed after pulling the handle.

One thing that occurred to me recently is that most builders are putting at least one GPS antenna on the glare shield of the RV-14, and then there's other wiring such as the canopy latched switch and LED cockpit lighting that requires a coax/wire bundle going up into the forward part of the canopy.

Great points. I installed mine after much internal debate but now am too wondering what would happen due to the wire connections.

excellent point about the canopy wiring interfering with the jettison. All my canopy wiring is collected in 2 bundles (see pic) which attach to 2 D-sub 9-pin connectors. After reading your post, I think I'll remove the screws from the D-sub connectors and use something like rubber bands or twist-ties to keep them together

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